What the Hell Happened to Oliver Stone?

So I watched Savages last night, which totally sucked ass, and it got me thinking about Oliver Stone's earlier films vs what he's put out over the last 15 years or so.

How can one man write/direct the majority of Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, JFK, Nixon, and Natural Born Killers all in one decade, and then produce nothing but crap for the next 15+ years?

You can Argue that Any Given Sunday was solid, but there is no excuse for Alexander, World Trade Center, W., Wall Street 2, and Savages. Some of these movies are downright atrocious. Alexander was an embarrassment.

So what happened? How can you go from being considered one of the best, most talented filmmakers of the 80s to what he is now?

Any Given Sunday was crap and Alexandria bored me to death, even though I'm a history major. I found World Trade Center to be decent but W. sucked. I have yet to see Wall Street 2 and Savages due to Stone's recent track record.

Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, and JFK were all amazing films. I have never seen Nixon, The Doors, or Natural Born Killers so I can't comment on those movies. But I agree. His early work rocked while his later work has sucked.

Al Pacino's speech toward the end of the movie was awesome but the majority of the movie was meh. Cameron Diaz was not good as the bitchy owner and there were a few other casting decisions I didn't like. Al Pacino, and to a lesser extent Jamie Foxx, kind of made the movie worth watching. But there really wasn't much there beyond the "Game of Inches" speech.

And I forgot all about U-Turn. That movie was weird and not very enjoyable.

I agree that his recent work has been a dropoff from where he was 15, 20 years ago. No denying that. I expected Savages to be awful when it first came out based on the trailers and recent Stone cliches, but I really enjoyed it for what it was.

The more movies I watch and learn what it is I like about them the less I like Stone. I rewatched JFK recently, and between the bad accents, overacted performances and silly montages I laughed at it. He also spoon feeds viewers as if they can't make up their own minds about things.

I still like Platoon, Wall Street (1) and the Doors. I would've liked Sunday more if the art direction wasn't so unrealistic, and again with the montage. He's definately unique and has made a couple great ones, but I can name many directors I dig better.

W was an abomination. Not just the writing. The directing was lifetime movie of the week bad.

I actually liked The Savages up until the weak arse ending. Some of the writing was cringe worthy and some of the plot didn't make much sense. Acting was sporadic, yet I still enjoyed the movie for some reason. Possibly boredom.